Will Henry Stevens papers, 1907-1950

Collection Summary: Letters, 1922-1949, from his daughter Janet, and from Robin Feild, director of Newcomb College School of Art, Kleemann Galleries in New York, fellow Newcomb art instuctor Robert Scott, Curt Valentin, Van Dearing Perrine (an illustrated greeting card and letter), Josef Albers (unsigned), and museums, regarding exhibitions of Steven's work; price lists and shipping invoices regarding exhibitions; a statement by Stevens; two biographical accounts; two sketchbooks and 152 drawings of landscapes, marine life, and non-representational images; printed material, 1907-1950, including clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and a flier (1934) for the Stevens Summer School of Painting, and photographs, 1922-1923, of Stevens, colleagues, art classes, and exhibition installations.

Biographical/Historical Note: Painter, New Orleans, Louisiana. Studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy and in New York with Jonas Lie and Van Dearing Perrine. Taught at Newcomb College Art Dept, New Orleans, 1921-1948. In the 1930s and 1940s, he developed an individualized style of non-objective and abstract painting. Throughout his career he experimented with pigments and manufacturing his own painting materials and was an influential teacher at Tulane.

Donated 1989 by Janet McDowell, Stevens' daughter.

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Microfilm reel 4704 available at Archives of American Art and through interlibrary loan.

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